


Epilogue

by Seguidilla



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 13:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seguidilla/pseuds/Seguidilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Irikah considers Thane from beyond the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epilogue

Irikah did not follow the old gods, and though her body was delivered to the sea, her soul was not.

Her violent end had left Kolyat in shock. Hoping to preserve her son, she clung instead to her assassin, who lived death.

She had conducted her life in an unyielding manner, characterised by confrontation and the knowledge of right from wrong. The results of her self-righteousness broke her heart over and over. The hands of the assassin, which she had turned so successfully to those of a lover, now delivered torture. It astonished her that she had been foolish enough to believe she could change him. She had only succeeded in poisoning him.

He was still lost in her, haunted by memories. He spilled them uncontrollably into the dark as he relived their time together, speaking to her until she could almost believe they had breached the barrier between life and death.

She found it increasingly absurd that the living should ever think to pray to the dead. _Please Thane, stop this. Go to Kolyat. Take me to him, I beg you. I can’t find the way on my own._

She was afraid of what might happen when his revenge was complete and there was nothing left to bear the brunt of his hurt. Would he turn his skills on himself in some misguided attempt to join her in the sea? The final confrontation found her pleading silently with him, begging him to spare her murderer and find another way to cope.

He focused down the scope of his sniper rifle and the memory came to him unbidden: ‘ _Sunset eyes, defiant in the scope._ ’ The rifle sounded with an explosive crack: a shot through the gut, intended to maim rather than kill. Irikah cried for him as he exacted his vengeance for her slow, torturous death. She knew that his conscience would crush him when the bloodlust faded.

Therefore, it was vaguely comforting to her when he fell into disconnection. His body operated distantly, limping on without the judgment of his soul. And yet, the virtuous spark she had seen in him was still there, pushing him to redeem himself before his body failed.

She felt dimly aware that her own time was growing short. Just as her body had disintegrated, her soul was fading. Her thoughts came slowly, losing their focus and giving way to indistinct impressions.

Nassana Dantius was a worthy target for an assassin with a conscience. Her death was delivered with merciful speed, unexpectedly illuminated by a brilliant light. It pierced the long shadows of Irikah’s twilight.

Irikah looked and saw an alien soul that burned as her own once had, brighter than the rising sun of Illium. It dazzled and humbled her, and on the far side of the barrier she knew that Thane was recognising it, too.

As she faded from conscious thought, Irikah dared to commit one final act of defiance: to hope.


End file.
